by Ken Task.
Sorry ... it's max__allowed_packet if I shared incorrect info before ... corrected now.
It's not PHP but MySQL ... my.cnf - config file of your DB server?
Read about it here for a better understanding:
https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/packet-too-large.html
Comment: a 1.4M course ... how did you determine that? A backup file? An .mbz backup is a compressed file and it's size may not be an indication as to how heavy processing a restore will be. Bunch of Quizzes? Stored in the DB sql file or backup as text can be compressed a bunch. So it looks small ... but it's not really small processing wise.
In progress BTW, could indicate failure to restore and it also could indicate server just doesn't have the umph to do it. :\
'spirit of sharing', Ken